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Last month, I saw some turned spoons at a show in Northville, NY, and decided to see if I could create something similar.

The basic design is a two-axis turning - starting out as a spindle with a 'bump', and then remounted in a donut chuck to hollow the bump. Mike Peace has a great video in which he demonstrates how to make these, and also shows how to make the donut chuck. Mike's spoons are basically coffee scoops with a 1.5" body, but you can rescale the design either up or design.

Mine are made from maple and have a 1" body. The handles are about 5" long - the only restriction is that the handle can't be longer than the swing of your lathe (unless you can shift or twist the headstock to avoid swing limitations).

I prefer the design with the thin handle. The spoon with the heavy handle was made from a blank with a bark inclusion that I had reinforced with CA, but I wasn't confident that the patch would be strong enough to make a thin handle.

While I am unable to see this video from work, I watched a vid where the maker went through several steps to ensure that the "bowl" was of a certain volume to measure coffee "accurately"... interesting.

These are great, and maple is a great choice. (a local supplier has maple with curl that is 6 or 7 stripes per inch!!!) That would be cool!

1. Mike used four bolts to attach the front of his donut chuck. I designed my for a 1" diameter spoon bowl (with a 7/8" hole in the front) and decided that I only three bolts. Seems to work just fine. Also, mine is threaded to screw directly onto my lathe spindle and not require a scroll chuck.

2. Mike shows some sanding tools, and my experience leads me to believe that they are a good idea if you are going to be making a number of spoons. Trying to sand inside a small spoon bowl by holding sandpaper with the tip of your finger is tedious.

3. Also, if you are going to be making a number of these, it might be worth the effort to make a tool for hollowing out the bowl. I used a 1/4" spindle gouge and a shop-made 'skewchee gouge'-type tool. Perhaps something with a 6mm round carbide cutter - - -